[comp.sys.mac.programmer] Mildly caustic question concerning 'Think C 3.0'

mikel@eyeball.bcm.tmc.edu (Michael W. Wellman) (08/19/88)

I don't really think that this deserves a flame heading cause it really isn't
all that major, but I was reading through the standard library reference
manual included with Think C 3.0 and stumbled across the following:

"The Macintosh coordinate system is defined with 0,0 at the top left of the
screen, and 512,342 at the bottom right." 

This apparently holds true for several of the functions provided for the unix
library.  Granted, this is a minor thing, but why did they have to set those
values?  I see at least two ways that this could have been done which I feel
would have been better.  Either, include a mild dependency on the Mac ROM and
check screenBits (I think that's the variable I want. . .) or have the user 
set some other variable before using any of the unix routines.  Admittedly, the
second option requires more effort on the part of the programmer, but it's still
a reasonably valid concept.  Now, I'll have to deal with people porting Unix
programs over which will be stuck in the upper-left hand column of my Mac II's
window.  

Fortunately, the source code to the libraries is included, so my ported
programs won't be stuck, but this would have been such an easy thing to have
taken care of before hand.  It's the small things like this which are going
to eventually separate the great programs (such as Think C 3.0) from the
really great programs (say, Think C 3.? ;-)

mikel
 
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Michael W. Wellman 			It's not those Christians who've seen
mikel@eyeball.ophth.bcm.tmc.edu 	the light that bother me. . .but those
					who have been blinded by it.
6101 Rampart #173-D			Copyright 1988 by Michael W. Wellman.
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